isilrina

[isilrina]

Hello guys!

Warning, thoughts on the current state of the world bellow the cut.

So, I've been working on a little something and I want to share because... because I'm very exited about it XD

I don't know when I'll have time to work on this, but meet E from a little something I'm cooking on the side. I can't tell much more for now because it would spoil the story I'm currently writing, but know that this is an OC that just bulldozed its way into my brain a few weeks ago and now, they are living there, rent free.

I have many ideas for many drawings with them and it's making my brain and fingers itch so much between writing and drawings I don't know which one I should do first XD

So to scratch the itch, I quickly put this together today ^^

On another note, I need to share how deeply saddened I am with everything that's been happening in the world these past two years. I don’t usually talk about this here, since this space is for sharing my art, but I can’t stay quiet anymore.

My heart bleeds everyday for the people who live in countries at war who got hit by natural causes, or are just trying to survive on a daily basis. What’s happening across the Atlantic really worries me and I have this deep feeling it’s going to make things worse everywhere, including here in France with how our power/money hungry monarch is friend with the blond clown.

It makes me sick to my stomach everyday a little more just thinking about everything. So, to anyone who needs to hear it, my thoughts are with you. I know it’s not much, but it’s all I can offer for now, and feeling so helpless really gets to me.

I truly hope we’ve hit rock bottom, so the only way forward is up, and that brighter days are on the horizon. But a part of me worries that it’s going to take a long time to bounce back. Until then, I sincerely hope everyone finds a safe place to hold on until this storm passes.

[isilrina]

Hello everyone.

One touch might be all it takes to feel whole again.

I started working on a different drawing last week, but it's still in progress because new inspiration struck in the meantime.

This piece, which took me less than two days, was inspired by Kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold, and a CD booklet image from Nothing But Thieves.

These cracks tell a story of past wounds—life’s marks on her. Yet, near his touch, they glow with veins of gold, as if his presence is gently mending her, revealing the beauty in her scars and showing her that these fractures are what shape her. They make her beautiful because she overcome what broke her.

[isilrina]

[isilrina]

Hey guys,

As I mentioned in my last Instagram story, there won’t be any Art Mondays until further notice. Life’s been tough lately with way too much going on, and I just don’t have the time to turn my drawings into content.

It’s been weighing on me for a while now, slowly draining my creativity. I’m working on figuring out a way to post again without it feeling like a chore—whether by changing my schedule or the way I approach it. Until then, I’ll likely shift to sharing stories on Instagram on Mondays and posting drawings once they’re finished.

As for the rest of my social media, I’ll post whenever a piece is done or when inspiration strikes.

Now for some good news: "Night Terrors" is finally finished!

I had to rework a lot (the blood, the lighting, Logan’s shorts…) and it took longer than expected to get it right. But I’m happy with how it turned out in the end.

I also had a blast designing the hallway, even though it doesn’t exactly match the vision I had 10 years ago.

You can find the original text of the whole scene under the cut ;)

See you around, lovelies.

As he turned to face his alarm clock, that showed 3:08 AM, he heard a scream in the hallway. It was a long and high pitched scream of pain at first, quickly followed by cries for help. Getting up in a few seconds, Logan burst into the corridor and followed the sound that led him to Amalia’s bedroom. He had heard her sometimes during the nights, as she had some bad dreams, but nothing like that before. As he violently opened her door, he found himself face to face with Liam. The boy was shaking hard as he watched his sister twitching and turning in her bed, sheets covered with dark and thick blood. She was still screaming unintelligible words and Logan gently but quickly pushed her brother on the side to kneel next to her.

“Amalia!” he first called her with a strong voice, trying to wake her up. “Come on, Amalia! It’s okay. Wake up! Look at me!”

But she wouldn’t open her eyes. He tried again as Jean and Scott, whose bedroom was next to his, came into the room, awaken by the redhead’s screams.

“Take care of the boy!” Logan yelled to them without looking away from the bloody shape of the redhead.

He put his hand on her face, wanting to slap her to wake her up at first but couldn’t bring himself to do so. So he grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard instead.

“Amalia!” he called her again. “Damn it, Amy! Wake up!”

Suddenly she took a deep breath in and coughed some blood while opening her eyes. They were wide and bloodshot as they frantically searched something through the room.

“Liam!” she screamed. “Where is Liam!”

“He’s with Jean and Scott, he’s safe, Amy.” he told her, gently. “Don’t worry. It was a bad dream.”

She tried to sit up but another scream escape her mouth before she coughed some more blood.

“What happened?” she asked between fit of coughing, her voice hoarse and weak.

But Logan shook his head as he didn’t know what to say.

“I’ll uncover you now to see if it’s bad, ok?” he told her instead, trying to calm her even if he was worried. “You trust me? I’m not going to hurt you, you know that, right?”

She nodded and closed her eyes, waiting for him to look at her wounds. As gently as he could, he peeled the covers from her body to see why she was hurt. Even if he thought he had seen everything until now, nothing he had lived through could prepare him for what he saw. The bed was drenched with blood and lots of her guts were spread out on the mattress. He pushed his worrying thoughts away to focus on the situation. The only weapon he saw was a ball of spike made of some kind of metal that was plunged deep inside her flesh. The ball was still moving like it has its own life and Amalia was trying hard to suppress her screams.

“Oh my god! What is that?” she cried as she saw the weapon cutting through her wide opened stomach that was constantly regenerating itself. “Get it off of me!”

She was panicking and he soothed her with more words.

“It’s gonna be okay. Look at me!” he told her with a deep voice. “I need you to calm down and to trust me, ok?”

She nodded, tears in her eyes and sweat on her forehead. As gently as he can, he plunged his hand into her abdomen and grabbed the deadly ball that started cutting through his own flesh. With clenched jaws, he grabbed it and tried to yank it out of her, making her scream in the same time. But the weapon wasn’t moving from its bloody nest. He did it again, before noticing his actions were pulling her arm behind her back.

“Ok, Amy. I need you to calm down. I think you’re doing this to yourself. It’s your hand that is attacking you.” he told her, putting his bleeding hand on her cheek.

“What?”

She didn’t understand what he was telling her. Stroking her cheeks with his thumb he told her once again:

“You’re doing this to yourself. Maybe because you had a nightmare and your body reacted to eliminate the threat. It’s your hand that is in your flesh.”

She looked at the deadly ball of spikes before breathing in deeply. She coughed another mouthful of blood before closing her eyes and frowning. She focused on her hand and reshaped it as quickly as she could before getting it out behind her back. A few more tears escaped her eyes as she felt her skin and guts healing themselves.

“It’s ok, now. It’s over.” Logan told her while gently pulling her toward him, burying her head in his chest and rocking her gently. “It’s over.”

She wasn’t bleeding anymore but she was paler than usual from the blood loss. It was only then that he got aware of the commotion in the hallway. He heard Kitty screaming at someone to let her pass, while Marie and Bobby were trying to calm her down. He knew he had to get up and to calm the students too, but he couldn’t bring himself to release her.

“You okay?” he asked her as he helped her to get up.

She tiredly nod and tried to stand on her legs but they gave away under her weight. So Logan grabbed her under her knees and behind her back before carrying her to the corridor.

“It’s okay, every one.” he talk louder than he usually did to cover the noise. “It was just a bad dream. Amalia is okay. I’ll take her to the infirmary now, so you should go back to you rooms and try to get some sleep.”

[isilrina]

Happy Art Monday, guys!

So, yeah, as I told you last week, I had a lot on my plate again, but I found some time to continue this project. Here’s another WiP for you.

This week, I only have one appointment so, unless something comes up last minute, "Night Terrors" should be done—or very close—by next Monday.

On another note, I'm completely back on my meds with the proper dosage since this morning. I'm hoping everything will be alright this time.

Until next Monday, friends.

[isilrina]

Happy Art Monday

I've been very busy lately, so I didn’t have much time to work on my current project, but here’s a small WiP for you.

This week is also packed, so we'll see if I find time for anything creative. In the meantime, I hope you're enjoying autumn!

See you around, lovelies!

[isilrina]

Happy Art Monday A few weeks ago, just before my two-week break, I shared a video of some line art without context. Today I'm back with this new video featuring more colors! It's still a work in progress, and I estimate I'm about 1/3 of the way through This drawing is titled "Night Terrors," named after a chapter of a story I wrote 10 years ago. It is set in the X-Men movie universe right after "Days of Future Past," and, as you can see, it features Logan Holwett. Shocker: I never finished the story, even though I only have two chapters left! After watching Deadpool 3 for my birthday, last august, and seeing all the fan art and fan fiction about Wolvie (and finding some amazing pose references), I felt inspired to illustrate one of the most strong moment of the story. I might revisit it in the future to finish it and improve it, as my writing style evolved since then. See you next Monday

[isilrina]

Hello everyone, Happy Art Monday!

I'm sharing this time lapse of my current WiP without much of a contexte because I'm seating in a vortex of chaos at the moment and I don't have time to do more.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to post anything on the two upcoming Mondays, so sorry in advance if you don't hear from me.

See you on the other side of the vortex.

[isilrina]

Happy Art Monday!

This drawing, titled "Craving You," was strongly influenced by my repeated listens to Tove Lo's discography. The slow beats and evocative lyrics of her songs put me in the mood for a less platonic drawing than I had initially intended.

This is, of course, my own interpretation of the game when I play as Melody. But after longing for each other for so long and losing one another repeatedly, they finally closed the gap at the end of the week they spent touring Thavnair.

The night before leaving for another adventure in a faraway land, as they were quietly stargazing in Radz-at-Han, she broke down: “What if something happens? Another calamity, another world-ending threat… What if I lose you again, and I’m not there to save you this time?”

But Raha reassured her: “No matter the distance, no matter the worlds between us, I will find my way back to you. Even if it takes a thousand lifetimes, I will always find you.”

What started as a light retelling of snippets between the two of them took a surprising turn as I kept writing over the next few days. I now have more than 30 of these snippets that need serious work, but I may post them someday.

In the meantime, here’s this drawing of when they reunited in Tural after Raha came to help during Dawntrail.

[isilrina]

Happy Art Monday!

This week has been super hectic with preparations for launching my company, so I didn’t have time to start a new drawing. Instead, I tackled my gray pile of shame and painted some minis—here's a few pics of my slowly growing army of Battle Sisters!

I also gathered more pose references for future projects, but I’m not sure when I'll be able to start something new because my husband and I are traveling to Greece soon to visit my parents and do some sightseeing. We’ll be back at the end of September, and I might not be able to stick to my usual Monday and Thursday posts, depending on the internet situation.

Lastly, I revisited an old obsession with X-Men after seeing Deadpool & Wolverine for my birthday—it’s reignited a forgotten flame of inspiration, so you might see some X-Men-related art in the future (and it may have something to do with the resources I’ve been hoarding 😉).

Catch you later, and thanks for all the support!

[isilrina]

"Touring Thavnair"

Happy Art Monday!

I started working on this piece 4 months ago, with the first sketches drawn on May 18th. After letting it sit for 3 months while juggling other projects, I finally picked it back up. The rough sketch was completed on July 22nd, and I work on the linework the next day.

Melody was the first to be inked and colored—it took some time, but I’m proud of how she turned out. Raha came next, and the process was much faster. The background ended up being more work than I anticipated (surprise, surprise! 😅), but I managed to finish it just in time today, with the final touches added minutes ago. I've shared regular updates along the way to give you all a glimpse into my process.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating this piece, even if it deviated slightly from my original vision. Overall, I'm happy with the result. The white traces on the rose dome had me uncertain, but they turned out okay. I know I’ll probably notice imperfections later, but that’s what makes it my art.

I've reflected on how I used to say, “I hope you like it,” in my captions sixteen years ago. But as you may know, I’m not doing that anymore. This is my art—I like it as it is, flaws and all. I enjoyed creating it, and I enjoy sharing it, no matter its imperfections because I can see my growth as an artist in each new piece. So unless you’re a commissioner, I’m not going to ask if you like it. But if you do, and you feel like sharing your thoughts, it would definitely make my day!

If you’ve been following the process from the sketches to the final piece, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you enjoy seeing the work-in-progress updates? Or do you prefer seeing the final drawing first, with behind-the-scenes content later on? Your feedback helps me improve my posting process.

If you want to support my art for free, sharing it in your stories or mentioning it to your friends really helps.

As always, thanks for following along, checking out what I do, and engaging with my content—it really helps me grow as an artist. 😊

[isilrina]

Happy Art Monday!

Two weeks ago, I started sharing a glimpse of my latest art project, featuring one of my Warriors of Light, Melody, from FF14. Last week, I posted a reel showcasing her entire journey, from sketch to final form.

Now, I’m thrilled to introduce the next part of the piece—Raha, our beloved Miqo’te Scion (or best boy as my friend and I call him), who is joining Melody as they explore the beautiful landscapes of Thavnair.

Once again, the video quality isn’t the best (thanks to Clip Studio Paint), but you can see it took me quite a while to get his face right. I wish I could work on it more, but at this point, I fear it won’t get any better, so this is good enough for now. I’ve got a bunch of resources for future Raha studies, though, so who knows, I might start working on another piece later.

I'm currently working on the background, and it's going nicely so far, fingers crossed, so stay tuned for the final version of this piece. Can't wait for you all to see it!

[isilrina]

Let's see...

Yeah, I'm good ^^ Tagging: @broken-little-bhaal-babe @messydiabolical @who-is-riley

you're stuck in a room with the last character in your gallery how safe are you?

(Tagged by @shieldofiron )

I honestly don't ... know ...

Tagging @lazybakerart @mikajupiterjonesingtimcurryfeet @callieb @disdaidal @introvertia

[isilrina]

Hello 👋 Here is your Art Monday Update! Last week, I began a new drawing featuring my FF14 character, Melody, and her favorite Scion on a well-deserved sightseeing trip after saving the world from an apocalypse. I posted a work-in-progress montage showing the process so far. This week, I'm sharing a 20-second time-lapse video of Melody's full creation! While the quality isn't perfect (Clip Studio, why are you doing this to me? 😭), I hope it still captures the effort. The entire process took about 28 hours. I'm also almost done with the second character, though I'm wrestling with the shadows on his face. He should be done next week!

[isilrina]

I've been working on something different for today, but it didn’t pan out, so I made this montage with Canva instead.

Meet Melody, my Viera from FF14! She's my second character (my main is a Miqo'te), and as of yesterday, she's level 90 with all jobs! I just started the new DLC's main story quest. Last April, I decided to draw her with her fave Scion, Raha. Here is what did so far.

Melody is quiet, sweet, and understanding, but she never backs down from a challenge and loves discovering new landscapes. She left her jungle a few years ago to find her childhood friend, whom she loved, but ended up saving the world instead. Trained as a white mage, she's now a master of all jobs, but her faves are paladin, dancer, and black mage.

[isilrina]

Upcoming Sticker Release!

Happy Art Monday everyone! I’ve got some new stickers to share with you today. This time it’s a set of 7 "Friendly Fruits" stickers!

The idea for these stickers started back in May of last year when I quickly made the first five, but it wasn’t enough. My sister @valkangie suggested adding a watermelon, which I loved, but I got stuck halfway through. Maybe it was too detailed to simplify easily, so I paused it until last week.

Since then, I’ve started using vectors for cleaner quality and updated the colors. So, I remade the previous five stickers and finished the watermelon. This gave me six stickers, and I thought about making either two packs of five or one pack of ten. But life had other plans, and I could only add one more sticker to this double pack.

I’ll probably make more next week or start a new drawing and come back to it later. I have more ideas for these Friendly Fruits so I am confident I'll make more in the future!

As usual, they’ll be available for download on Ko-Fi and for order as stickers, badges, and magnets on Redbubble. They should be ready by Thursday, so stay tuned and wait for the story on Instagram!

These Friendly Fruits are 6x6 cm (2,4x2,4 inches) and are perfect for decorating any object you like. They can personalize accessories, and you can even write on them with markers to turn them into labels for glass pots of fruit jam or anything else.

Thanks for your support and happy decorating!

[isilrina]

Happy Art Monday!

Last year, while searching for stock photos, I found one by Faestock on DeviantArt from 2013 that immediately inspired me. I often go to her account to find entire poses or parts of some to help me with my drawings, and I am never disappointed. There is always something that will spark an idea, and this one did just that.

You might remember the time-lapse of the line art I posted last February on Instagram. Since that day, I worked on it on and off. As is often the case, I started with the hair, which took ages but was a relaxing process, using dusk colors. Once finished, it reminded me of some nebula pictures I saw online, so I adorned it with stars.

Then I painted her skin using earth tones but kept it vibrant as I was afraid the Goddess would turn out muddy instead of glowing. She is, as the earth under the sun, full of warmth and I wanted to show just that.

The next step was the sky, and no matter what I did, I wasn't pleased with it. So I put it on hold, and months went by as I started more drawings and stickers, finished some, and put others on hold until I decided to return to it once again.

After an afternoon deep in Clip Studio assets, I found the perfect brushes for the trees and the clouds, and just like that, I was ready to start again. I painted the mountain, added the trees, deleted some, painted the snow, the houses (inspired by the game Landnama and some depictions of Norse houses and granaries), and the tower.

The last step was the rocks and foliage on the Goddess' skin, which was incredibly fulfilling, so much that it made me want to create more in the future, which I'll probably do in a future drawing.

Then I came back to the sky using colors close to those I saw in an area of the game Final Fantasy XIV named Elpis that I found absolutely gorgeous, and it worked wonders.

Software used: Clip Studio Paint